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This week, I'll be bringing you cloth diapers from around the world! Today, I want to introduce you to Angel Bean. Aimee, owner and creator of Angel Bean, was a middle school teacher in New York but moved to the island of Crete (which is part of Greece) when she met her husband there. Here is what Aimee has to say about the start of her shop:

"The inspiration for my shop came from my two boys, Angelo and Dino (but we call him Bean). They are the reason I dusted off my sewing machine in an attempt to make some cloth diapers. My middle son has really sensitive skin and disposable diapers are really irritating for him, so I took the plunge into cloth and never looked back. After having my last baby, I just knew I would use cloth with him and wanted to try to make them myself. I received so many compliments from friends and family and they encouraged me to start a business sewing diapers. And of course it helps that my husband is really supportive of using cloth with our boys (and he even changes diapers!). Now you are probably wondering why my other child is not included in that name, well Sofia is the heart in the middle. She is my oldest and my one and only girl and never stops making me laugh."

The Angel Bean Etsy shop carries fleece diaper cover, skirties, and cloth diapers. Fleece diaper covers are an inexpensive addition to any stash. They aren't waterproof like PUL but are water resistant and breathable. Plus, you can find them in so many cute prints. Take a look!

I LOVE these skirties!

The Review:

Aimee kindly sent me a fitted cloth diaper and fleece diaper cover to review. She has recently branched out and started to make her own fitted diaper pattern. The fitted diaper is turned and topstiched for durability and comfort of baby. The diaper has three layers plus two snap in inserts. The diaper outer is made from a cotton knit. A hidden layer of bamboo hemp fleece is in between the outer layer and the cotton velour inner. The bi-fold soaker is made of one layer of cotton velour on the top and a layer of bamboo hemp terry. When this is folded in half, it creates four layers of protection. The other soaker snaps into the inside of the bi-fold soaker. It is made of two layers of heavy bamboo fleece. The cover is made out of fleece with an extra layer in the wet zone.

Fitted Diaper:

Ease of Use:This diaper has two snaps on each wing (four snaps to get the diaper on). There are four waist adjustments on the body of the diaper. I love the coordinating features that Aimee has tied into this diaper. The snaps match the inner velour color and the serging around the snap in soaker is the magenta just like the velour. Since there are two rows of snaps on the body of the diaper, you can adjust the waist and the legs seperately. This is great for chubby- legged babies or babies who's legs are thinner than their tummy's.

Fit: This diaper had a pretty good fit on Charlotte. The legs were snug and didn't mark her sensitive skin. I found that this wasn't this most trim diaper (fitteds and covers usually aren't), but it wasn't extrmemly fluffy. It as a good middle of the road "my baby is definately wearing cloth" fluffiness.

Performance:We had one or two leaks with this diaper. It was near the beginning and I might not have prepped it well enough. Both leaks were overnight and I believe they were when she was going through a growth spurt (babies always have more urine output when they are growing). After a few more washes, we never had any problems. I line dried this diaper most of the time and I don't know if it was the hot Texas weather or what but it dried fast! Sometimes line drying can give you stiff diapers but the velour helped keep this diaper softer than most when line drying.

Care: Normal wash routine (cold rinse, hot wash, cold wash) worked great with this one. Make sure to prep it properly first. Works great line drying.

Cost: Right now Aimee is working on stocking her shop up. I believe the fitteds run in the range of $15. Click here to purchase.

Overall Opinion: What can I say, I'm a two part diapering system fan! This diaper worked out really well for us. It gave us ample room to grow yet has fit well at every stage. The velour is so soft next to Charlotte's skin. The magenta really brightens up my diaper laundry! Aimee has done a great job with quality and craftsmanship. A great basic staple to build the perfect stash!

Cover:Ease of Use: This is a pull on style cover made with fleece. Fleece is a light weight, breathable materials that is water resistant (not waterproof like PUL). The pull on style covers can be used in place of shorts since they are so cute. I do this in the summer all the time! This style might not be for everyone as it takes a little more time to put on than, say, a wrap style cover would.

Fit: Like Aimee's description says, these covers run on the small side. The Large fits Charlotte but is a tight fit on her large thighs. This makes it hard to put on sometimes. There is also a gap at the back of the cover and you can see the top of her diaper (the diaper doesn't stick out but since the cover doesn't have much stretchiness to it, it doesn't conform to her skin). This doesn't affect how the cover works; it's just aestetical. Perhaps some adjustments could be made or another size added. Maybe a stretchy top?

Performance: The extra layer in the wet zone is just perfect for this cover. Some people have touted fleece as an inexpensive alternative to wool. The fleece works similarly (it gets damp when it needs to be changed) but it doesn't have the cleansing properties of wool (wool turns urine in to salt). Needless to say, we didn't have any redness, just nice clean, dry skin.

Care: Air dry this cover if you can! It will prolong the life of the fleece and help it not to pill as much. Fleece will pill overtime. Again, this won't affect its performance, just the way it looks.

Overall Opinion: I liked this cover. The argyle print was so cute and perfect for Charlotte (who is becoming quite the girly girl). Although it was a little hard to put on because of the lack of stretchiness, it worked great and help up well overnights. Now that Charlotte has started to crawl her thighs are sliming down *insert sad face here* (I love baby chub) and the cover seems to fit better over her legs.

Aimee is generously giving one fitted and one cover to a lucky winner! Enter in the Rafflecopter form below!

Mumi & Bubi is a company out of New Zealand that offers parents across the world an easy way to store homemade baby food. Having homemade baby food readily available is the perfect way to ensure that your baby is getting the freshest, highest quality foods around. Christina, now owner of Mumi & Bubi, knew making her son's food was right for her family. When she found herself spending an awful lot of time in the kitchen, she realized it was not what she had in mind. A friend gave her the Mumi & Bubi trays to try out and Christina fell in love! Within 4 days of cooking just 20 minutes per day, she had a whole months worth of food for her son. Christina became a distributor and later bought the whole company. Talk about a woman who stands behind her products!

Making your own baby food is a wonderful way to know what is in the food. Making your own will ensure that no additives, colors or artificial flavors are added. It will also provide your baby with a more nutritious dinner. Commercially processed baby food can be devoid of many vitamins and minerals because of the high temperature pasturization and cooking that has to happen in a large factory. Providing your baby with the best won't be a time consuming task if you utilize your freezer. You can make food once a week and freeze the leftovers to serve all month long.

Mumi & Bubi offers the Solids Starter Kit to provide their children with the healthiest, homemade food. The trays are made in New Zealand from non-toxic, virgin polypropylene – PP5 – and are top-shelf dishwasher-safe. The trays are certified free of phthalates, BPA, and PVC. There are 21 individual cubes in each tray (the set come with two trays). The trays stack on top of one another to make more efficient use of your freezer. The trays fit lids snugly to prevent spills, leaks and freezer burn. Cubes can be removed by pressing on one end of the cube which makes it slide out of the tray.

The Review:

I was sent a Solids Starter Kit to review. I made some of Sally's baby food, and all of James' and Charlotte's. With Sally and James, I never used the freezer. I would puree a little of whatever veggie we were having for dinner that night. I have noticed that with three little ones, my time is limited! Using the freezer has come in handy! Charlotte has had a hard time with solid foods. She seems to have a lot of sensitivities to foods that most babies don't have problem with, like fruit. She will get super constipated and fussy. We found that prunes were the only thing that could help her. Keeping cubes of prunes in the freezer is a great idea if your little one has tummy troubles. No one wants to spend time cooking a food that will help their baby's belly WHEN their baby is hurting. Frozen prune cubes to the rescue!

The cubes are easy to prepare too. Since it has been over 100 degrees here in Texas for over 70 days, I simply put a cube or two in a glass jar and put that out in the sun. I don't have to use power and it just takes about 15 minutes or so. If it doesn't feel like an oven outside where you live, simple remove the desired cubes and heat. Stir throughly and serve.

These trays fit compactly in the freezer.

Performance: The trays are basically 2 large BPA, phthalates and PVC free ice cube trays with lids (please don't twist the trays as they could crack). I found that the trays worked great for freezing the food but not an ideal place to store them. I did get some freezer burn. It worked better if I took the cubes out of the trays and stored them in a freezer Ziploc bag. Freezer burn won't hurt the food; it will just affect the taste and look of it.

Care: These trays are safe to wash on the top rack of your dishwasher. I handwashed mine in warm soapy water. I never found that the food stuck to them so it was an easy wash.

Overall Opinion: These trays are a great way to save time in the kitchen. Preparing your baby's food has just gotten easier with the use of the freezer. These trays have other uses than just baby food. Try storing juice cubes in the trays. We make our own chicken broth. Pouring it in these trays is a great way to freeze it in easy to use cubes. This is also a great way to have fresh, seasonal fruits and veggies on hand all year round. A great kitchen accessory!

Hello Everyone! Welcome to Knocked Up and Nursing. To read a little about me and this blog click here. Wow, has this summer gone by quickly or what?! A Blogtastic Extravaganza 2.0 is here and I have 2 great prize packages for you to enter to win. To enter the Miniature Scientist user the Rafflecopter. To enter the Budding Scientist comment on this post with your entries (read the rules below). My theme is "The Miniature Scientist" as children are naturally curious. f you have nay questions, please email me at knockedupandnursing@gmail.com

Optional: Tweet about this giveaway. You can use: "Win a prize package w/ Wooden Toys from preschoolers @knockedupnursin http://knockedupandnursing.blogspot.com/"

Optional: Share this giveaway on Facebook. Leave me a link.

Winner will be notified by email and will have 48 hrs to respond or a new winner will be chosen. Must be 18 year old to enter. Open to US and Canadian residents only. Subject to changes. Sponsor responsible for fulfillment.

When Lovable Labels contacted me about doing a review, I was so excited. I feel like I'm always misplacing stuff and labeling it is a great way to make sure it gets back to me! I get out of the house a lot (I'm not going to let three kiddos slow me down), but, I'll admit, when I do go out it is a bit hectic. I have to make sure James isn't jumping off a store display and that Sally isn't off exploring. Luckily, Charlotte is in the sling, giving me my hands. When I get all three children in the same place, I tend to take off, sometimes leaving things behind (at least I've never left my kiddos).

Lovable Labels is a mom-run business based in Canada that Laura started in 2003. When Lauren's daughter started daycare, Lauren was told to label everything that she brought in for her daughter; shoes, cups, clothing, backpacks. Laura did her research and created a huge line of labels that include regular (microwave and dishwasher safe), slimline (microwave and dishwasher safe), shoe, iron-on (washer and dryer safe) labels and bag tags. These labels are bright, fun and will last through what kids can put them through!

The Press and Stick Clothing Dots are great a great way to make sure that clothing returns to its rightful owners. I put some on my maternity clothes. I always seem to have a few friends who are pregnant and keeping my maternity clothes in a box just seems wasteful. I put the Press and Stick Dots on the tags of the clothing and when my friends are done borrowing my maternity clothes, I'll get them back. This way there won't be any questions of "Is this one yours?".

The Slimline labels are great for waterbottles and sippy cups. These are usually the items I leave behind. I'm the lady who carries a water bottle with her where ever she goes but sometimes my absentmindedness rears its ugly head.

Have a child with allergies or a medical condition? Lovable Labels has you covered! They have labels for food allergies and medical to alert childcare providers or teachers about your child and his or her needs. Lovable Labels also has medical and vital wristbands for your child to wear. These are a great way for medical professionals to access your child's information should an emergency arise. There is enough space on the card inserts to write your child's medical condition, medication they may be taking, two emergency contacts and any other information you may find helpful.

Lovable Labels has something for everybody! They have a great line of organizational labels. These include labels for crafts, the pantry and household files. I love the garbage bin labels. These make finding your garbage bin a little easier. This past spring, we had a huge wind storm in Texas. When the garbage bins were out, they blew all over the street! This would have been handy to have. They also have stationary! The "Connect With Me" cards are a brilliant idea. The Connect With Me cards are similar to business cards. They are great for handing out to new friends, arranging play dates, and giving your children to keep your contact info on hand.

Garbage Bin Labels

Connect with Me cards are perfect for notifying people of a new address.

Why choose Lovable Labels? Because children loose things. Even I loose things! When children go to camp, school, childcare, dance class etc., (or when you go to work) they might misplace their belongings. With durable, affordable and unique designs lovable labels has you covered.

Overall Opinion: I was sent the "Back to School" pack to review. I chose the Polka Dot Me pack. The Back to School pack contains:

The colors are pretty spot on from the website. The printing is high quality and the labels stay put! The different sizes are great for labeling everything that you'll need for back to school or daycare (or for sticker crazy kids). The mini metal tags are perfect for hanging on your diaper bag.

Lovable Labels are a great way to ensure that lost things will come back to you. I would like if they had a place to put your phone number on the labels, though.

The Giveaway:

Lovable Labels has generously supplied us with a pack of "Back To School Pack" for one lucky winner! Thanks, Lovable Labels! Enter on the rafflecopter form below.

Green Bottoms is an Etsy shop run by Dina. After making all of the diapers for her twin boys, Dina became very comfortable with experimenting with diaper patterns. The end result is a well thought out product for you and your baby! Green Bottoms shop has All in Twos (AI2s), Fitteds, and pocket diapers along with diaper covers. If you want to be brave, she even has supplies to make your own diapers. Take a look at some of the cute fabrics she has.

Love the girly print on this diaper cover.

Berry Vines Fitted Diaper

Fitted Diaper

The Review:

I got the chance to review a Green Bottoms pocket diaper in a lovely purple flower print. The print is really striking. I like to show off my baby's diaper and try to pair them with shirts that match. The pattern and colors in this print offer so many color combination opportunities. Dina includes a hidden layer of PUL (polyurethane laminate) under her cotton outer prints. This Green Bottoms Diaper is a sized, pocket diaper with two rows of snaps. There are four snaps on each side of the diaper to acheive the best fit for baby. The wings has three snaps each, two for the waist and one for the thighs. This is helpful for babies who have larger or smaller thighs than tummies.The pocket is in the front of the diaper for easy access and washing. The front of the diaper has a slight dip in it to fit nicely on the tummy; similar to a low rise fit. Dina has chosen color coordinated snaps with perfectly matched thread color!

Ease of Use: Six snaps will have this diaper on your baby. The thigh snaps make it easy to avoid leaks if you have a baby with skinny legs or chunky thighs! The front stuffing pocket is wide and accomidates for larger hands.

Fit: I was sent the pocket diaper without an insert. It was nice to be able to adjust the absorbency. Obviously, the more inserts you add, the fluffier baby's bottom will be. I mainly used this diaper with an extra GoGreen Pocket Diaper microfiber 3 layer insert. It was nice and trim. The hip snaps were a great addition to this diaper. It was great to have for my chunky thighed babe. The medium size we were sent fit great! It fits babies 15-30lbs.

Performance: We did experience some wicking with this diaper. The times that we did it was overnight. To be truthful, I really think that I needed to add more absorbency to the diaper for night time use. Consequently I used this diaper mostly during the daytime. Remember that I did not use one of Dina's inserts (although they look really great). Perhaps I wouldn't have had any issues if I were using one of her insets. This diaper was great for us for day time and it was one of the first diapers I grabbed after diaper laundry.

Care: I washed this diaper with my normal wash routine (cold rinse, hot wash, cold wash) and it did great! There were some sticky poo messes (Charlotte was just beginning solids) and there are no stains on the microfiber. That's the one thing I really like about microfiber, the stain resistance. I would reccommend drying on medium. There was more wicking if I line dried the diaper.

Materials: Cotton outer, microfiber inner, hidden layer of PUL.

Cost: $13 for the medium pocket diaper. Diapers in the Green Bottoms shop run from $10- $30.

Overall Opinion: This was a great day time diaper for us. The fit was wonderful and provided full coverage, even on my high rise baby. The ability to adjust the thigh seperate from the waist was a big plus for us. Green Bottoms diapers are a great, inexpensive way to expand your cloth diaper stash!

Not into sized diapers? Dina also offers a one size option. See her Facebook page for more details.

The Giveaway:

Dina is offering one reader a custom cloth diaper (choice of fabric and size).